Western countries see the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war in different ways – Reuters

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As Western governments grapple with rising inflation and energy prices, some countries, including Italy and Hungary, have called for a swift ceasefire. writes Reuters. This could pave the way for easing sanctions and ending the blockade of Ukrainian ports that has exacerbated the food crisis hitting the planet’s poorest.

“The Russians have spread the narrative that this is going to be a debilitating war, we have to sit down at the negotiating table and look for a consensus,” a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters.

There is no unity among the allies

Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states warn that Russia cannot be trusted. They are confident that the ceasefire will allow the Russian Federation to consolidate its territorial gains, regroup and launch new attacks in the future.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said he wants to weaken Russia, and President Joe Biden has called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be held accountable for war crimes. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Kyiv cannot be forced to agree to an unfavorable peace deal and that Ukraine must win.

Germany and France are more ambiguous. They believe that Putin’s victory cannot be allowed, but they fear his defeat. At the same time, these countries support tough new sanctions.

“The question is whether we will return to the Cold War or not. That is the difference between Biden, Johnson and us,” said an aide to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Reuters suggests that divisions among Ukraine’s allies may become more visible as sanctions and the war take their toll on the global economy. This is fraught with a negative reaction from the inhabitants of Western countries and plays into the hands of Putin.

“From the very beginning, it was clear that over time it would become more and more difficult – war fatigue sets in,” said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. “There is a difference between countries that have much better neighbors than ours and those that not the same history as the Baltic countries and Poland.”

Why are Macron and Scholz calling Putin

Emmanuel Macron warned that the world should not “humiliate” Russia, as Germany did in 1918. He, like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, maintains ties to the Kremlin, drawing outrage from more hawkish countries. The Polish president has already compared Macron’s constant calls to the Kremlin to conversations with Hitler during World War II.

The French president believes that the world will still have to deal with Putin after the war, unless there is a palace coup in Russia, Macron’s aide explained. At the same time, Chancellor Scholz claims that during the conversations, firm and clear signals were sent to the Russian president: sanctions against Russia will not be lifted if Putin does not withdraw troops and agree to a peace agreement acceptable to Kyiv.

Some French diplomats doubt that Macron is doing the right thing, as he risks alienating Ukraine and Eastern European allies, Reuters writes.

How Ukraine reacts

Grateful to the West for its support, Ukraine resents proposals to give up territories in order to sign a ceasefire agreement. In Kyiv, one sometimes wonders if its allies have properly united against the Russian Federation.

Macron’s proposal to prevent Russia from being humiliated prompted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to warn that France was only humiliating itself and Kyiv’s relationship with Scholz was rather cold, Reuters reports. The publication quotes a high-ranking Ukrainian official who regrets that the European Union does not have its own Churchill.

However, the assistant to the French president assures that there are no attempts to make concessions to Putin or Russia in Macron’s actions. According to him, France wants Ukraine to win, to return its territories, and the dialogue with the Russian president is “not about compromise, but about saying what we see.”

The Germans are afraid of prolonging the war

A US administration official told Reuters that Washington is skeptical of Russia’s promises to honor the deal in good faith, while denying that there are “strategic differences” between the allies. The United States, working with its allies, has benefited Ukraine through sanctions, arms sales and other measures, a State Department spokesman said, even as skeptics questioned Western unity even before the invasion.

The official assures that the main goal of the allies is for Ukraine to get a strong position for negotiations. According to him, the United States does not intend to seek a change of power in Russia, but wants to weaken it to such an extent that a new attack on Ukraine becomes impossible.

However, German government sources believe that achieving this goal will be problematic. In addition, they are concerned that some in the West are inciting Ukraine for unrealistic military goals, including the return of Crimea, which could prolong the war.

Recall, adviser to the head of the President’s Office Mykhailo Podolyak said that Ukraine will fight until the Russian Federation loses and will not withdraw its troops from our territory. In May Podolyak criticized the European Unionwhich, despite the war, continued to buy energy in the Russian Federation, paying the aggressor a billion euros a day.

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